


What could go wrong?

by SteveM



Series: Life after Crisis [4]
Category: Batwoman (TV 2019), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22655254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveM/pseuds/SteveM
Summary: As Kara and Kate settle into their relationship the latest machinations of Lex Luthor threatens to throw a wrench in the works...
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Kate Kane
Series: Life after Crisis [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623199
Comments: 16
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, this is part 4 of the "Life After Crisis" series and represents a little bit of a departure. Specifically it's written more as if it's an episode and tries to stick to the same basic guidelines on what's depicted 'on screen' so to speak. This also explains why the tech explanations are utter nonsense but gotta be accurate to the source material, right? For those trying to figure out the timeline the entire series basically kicks off right after Crisis on Infinite Earths and wanders off on its own from there. Hope you enjoy it and, as always, comments are most welcome.

All things considered it had been a pretty good day as far as Kate Kane was concerned. She'd closed property deals on two key locations to block a subdivision of Thomas Elliot's odious empire gutting one of the few remaining decent and affordable housing districts on the east side of Gotham. They'd had their liquor license approved for the gayest club in town - or, at least, it would be if she had anything to say about - as well as settling on a suitably trendy but unsubtle branding guaranteed to piss off the homophobe restaurant-owner across the street. Hell she'd even managed to get ahead of the paperwork for a change leaving her desk comfortingly empty.

And, she thought with a smile as she heard the balcony door swing open in the next office, it sounded like her girlfriend had just come home. The smile faded a little at the rather stompy footsteps on marble tiles and turned into a sympathetic wince as Supergirl pulled open the connecting door hard enough to rattle the hinges and marched across the room towards their private apartment. Kate opened her mouth to offer sympathy, support and sex... not necessarily in that order... but the girl of steel held up a warning hand as she went by and Kate took the hint.

Less than a minute later she heard the dull thud of indestructible hand on concrete and thought it a good idea to at least be in the area to make sure Wayne Tower didn't become a bungalow thanks to an errant fist. Slowly, wanting to give Supergirl some time to work through whatever was annoying her, she made her way back into their bolt hole from the world, pausing only to shut the soundproof doors behind her. It was no surprise to find her target in their training room, Batwoman's array of weapons, weights and gym equipment ignored in favour of the six foot high, three foot on a side concrete block that doubled as a punching bag for Kryptonians. 

Leaning against the doorframe Kate took a moment to watch Supergirl in action. Theoretically she could justify it, should the need arise, as learning her style, planning in true Bat style how to beat her if push came to city-shaking shove. The truth though was it was mainly an excuse to watch her gorgeous figure in a skintight super suit and practice hiding her less than subtle oggling of her butt as she swung for the fences.

Whatever was bothering her was clearly a top ten item, Kate thought, as she saw cracks forming in the reinforced concrete. Any time now.... yep, she thought with a mix of annoyance and pride, there it goes. One final punch had split the block completely in two with a monstrous crash that justified Kate’s decision to make the level below part of the apartment and ensure it was filled with a *lot* of steel reinforcement. As Supergirl stood there panting Kate figured now was about the right time to play the good girlfriend role.

"Damn you're hot when you're mad." she quipped and saw Kara's head shake in exasperation though Kate could just about make out the smile and blush she'd hoped for. 

"Is that all you think about?" Kara said, turning to face her, hands on hips in a pose that rang all sorts of warm fuzzy bells in Kate's head, heart and parts beyond.

"All? No. Real estate, gay rights, kinda scary clowns with ridiculous forehead tattoos, it's all in here." Kate tapped her head as she walked across the floor. "But around you that all seems to get put on hold for some wild, crazy reason."

Kara giggled and opened her arms, pulling Kate into an embrace and kiss that seemed to center their worlds. Both women sighed in contentment simultaneously, paused in disbelief, then broke away in laughter.

"Oh that can't be a good sign!" Kate chuckled.

"Next thing you know you'll be wearing glasses and the occasional brightly coloured outfit!" Kara teased.

"Does that mean you'll be wearing black leather?" Kate asked with a seductive glance.

"Never say never..." Kara replied, scooping Kate up in her arms and doing a slow twirl that left them floating three feet off the ground. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Let me guess... there's a Luthor involved? And as you didn't straight-up disintegrate the 'bag' this time I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark that it's Lex not Lena?"

"You are annoyingly good at that."

"I'm a Bat, it's what we do." Kate said smugly. "Want to talk about it?"

"Want? No, absolutely not. What I *want* to do is throw him into space and see if I can get him to land in that Tesla that's floating around Venus."

"Hundred bucks if you make the shot."

"Don't tempt me..." Kara growled the words and Kate felt the anger running through the girl of steel. 

"Would probably make the next performance review tricky considering he’s technically your boss." Kate agreed. "So come on, what buttons did he jump on this time?"

"He's trying to open up the alien registry again! Make it public and searchable so, and I quote, 'people know what aliens are living on their street and what they can do'."

"Yeah, because that'll end well after months of the DEO stoking the flames by publishing a never-ending stream of 'look what the bad alien almost did' stories in the press."

"Exactly! It'd put every alien on this planet at risk! And for what, another award on his mantle that he knows full well he hasn't earned?"

Kate winced. The whole Earth Prime thing, and Crisis in general for that matter, was still a touchy subject with Kara but no part of it more so than Lex Luthor rewriting reality to absolve himself of his crimes, be loved by the populace and return to a position of power and wealth. Well... that and making sure that Lena, his sister and Kara's very much former best friend, remembered everything from before the Crisis including her anger towards Kara for betraying her trust. In fact Lena was still a subject that Kate tried to avoid wherever possible as it was getting difficult to explain the scorch marks to her decorators.

"And of course there's nothing much you can do as it's a political process and Lex is likely to keep it quiet and avoid a public debate on the subject." Kate finished with a disgusted sigh. "So more protests in the streets, questionable legal footing that'll keep the whole thing swirling in the public eye for months and more anger from everyone to everyone else. Great. How's Alex handling it?"

"Well she's certainly making full use of that unlimited ammo card you got her at the National City shooting range..." Kara said with a sad chuckle. "I guess the Danvers sisters don't have particularly healthy coping mechanisms."

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Kate commented, looking down at the ruined slab of concrete. "You both figure out ways to work out the anger without hurting anyone and both know enough to use that way sooner rather than later." She paused to make sure she had Kara's attention then threw her a wicked look. "Plus you've both got spectacular girlfriends to kiss it better once you're done venting."

"True." Kara said, wasting no time in accepting the invitation. "Talking of which I'm being a pretty terrible partner right now. How're you, how's your day?"

"Honestly? Pretty damn good." Kate said, quickly filling Kara in on the details. "Hell even Gotham seems to be behaving itself, more or less. Everything's relatively quiet right now."

"So Gotham is the bright light of hope at the moment, not National City?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm scared too." Kate said with a dramatic shudder that had Kara giggling. "Don't worry, I'm sure some lunatic with... with..." she racked her brain for the most ridiculous thing she could think of: "with a kite will be along shortly to ruin my nights."

"Kate Kane, I give you my solemn oath that no lunatic with a kite will ruin a single one of your nights, even if I have to lay down my life to keep you safe." Kara said in her best dramatic hero voice.

"That... probably shouldn't be a turn on, should it?" Kate asked, running a fingertip around Kara's ear and sending little shivers racing through the Kryptonian.

"It could make Justice League briefings awkward, yes." Kara replied with a smirk. "Though of course now that I know this crucial fact I might have to start doing that more often."

Kate rolled her eyes then grabbed a handful of Kara's blonde hair and flashed her an intimidating glare. "Don't make me thrown a Batarang at you!"

"That's your answer to everything." Kara said matter-of-factly. "Plus, just for the record, THAT'S a turn on! The look I mean, not the Batarang. Those things are just annoying."

Kate wavered for a moment, caught between her moral compass and a growing need to ravage her girlfriend on the floor of the training room. Or floating in the air above it, she wasn't picky.

"Look, I hate to even ask this but... do you want to see if there's anything we can do about this Lex problem?"

"Uh..." Kara's face mirrored Kate's own dilemma. "Yes? But right now?"

"When's he going to start this plan of his moving?"

"First meeting with the president is tomorrow morning."

Kate groaned. "Of course it is. Then... yeah, right now."

They both sighed in unison and looked at each other in surprise."Okay, we really need to stop doing that. It's getting weird!" Kate said and Kara nodded in agreement.

"Come on." She said, lowering them both to the floor. "Let's go be heroes." 

"Yeah, Justice now, sex later." Kate promised and was rewarded with a beaming smile from Kara that lit up the world. Kate led her from the room wondering, not for the first time, how she'd been lucky enough to have this woman in her life while Kara followed a few feet behind, taking her own opportunity to drink in what, in her opinion, was the most beautiful human she'd ever seen. For all the horror of Crisis if it had led her to this point at least something good had come out of it, she thought, resisting the temptation to sneak a peak beneath the chic business cool suit. Though if for no other reason than this whole bad guy plan was keeping her from getting Kate into bed right this second she resolved to give Lex an extra punch or two when she finally got the chance.


	2. Chapter 2

The batcave had a distinctly pizza-scented aroma as the two women worked through a mountain of data. They'd been at it for hours with the only break being Kara hopping over to Metropolis to grab some deep dish goodness and give Clark a heads-up that Lex was being an asshole again. 

"You know, now that I think about it, a girlfriend who can grab the best food from anywhere in the world faster than the dodgy Indian place down the street can deliver really ought to have been higher up my list of priorities." Kate commented, flicking through building schematics of the LuthorCorp tower.

"It balances out the need to pay the bill for that person having a super metabolism". Kara said with a smile, her eyes flickering at inhuman speed through page after page of financial data on the vast business empire Lex maintained both on and off the books.

"So worth it." Kate replied with a sigh. "Though said super metabolism also keeping you in perfect shape while I'm spending hours working out is deeply unfair."

"Awww, you think I'm perfect." Kara teased as she started to jot down notes on the more interesting parts of Lex's finances.

"This is not news." Kate observed. "I tell you that at least once a day. Usually at night for reasons that absolutely definitely in no way have to do with a lack of clothes."

"Per... fect." Kara said with a chuckle and absentmindedly caught the empty pizza box Kate threw like a frisbee.

"Okay little miss perfect, any idea how we can go after the bald one for something legitimately sketchy rather than just busting down the front door because we don't like his politics?"

"Actually... yeah, maybe." Kate walked over and lent down, her chin resting on Kara's shoulder as she read.

"This is the company that won the contract for the DEO database." Kara said, pointing. "Naturally it's owned by Lex."

"Of course, can't let an opportunity for fun and profit pass him by. Not, technically, illegal though."

"No, but look at the amount they charged for the work."

"That... seems low."

"Very low. Like twenty percent under what it should be low. Now look here..." Kara brought up another spreadsheet. "This is the breakdown of the bill and it seems right but only because they spent far less time than anyone else quoted for the job."

"Hmmm.... so the question is why? You think there's something dodgy in the code?"

"No idea but something there is definitely weird."

"Don't suppose we've got a copy of it by any chance?"

"Of course we do." Kara gave her a small, proud smile. "Alex gave me access a couple of days ago."

"Great. I'll get Luke to give it a once-over, see what he can find." Kate busied herself at the keyboard for a few seconds before sending the message and code file over the ridiculously secure feed up to Luke's office. After accidentally walking in to the bat cave while Kate and Kara were about three seconds away from tearing open each others' super suit he'd decided that giving the two some personal space was probably a good idea and given his private office upstairs a full upgrade and makeover.

"Any joy on Operation Bug's Life?"

"For the last time, we're not calling it that. And... maybe. It'll be tricky, Lex built this place like a damn plague lab! There's more safety systems and backups than you'd believe. But there's an airduct on the roof that looks like it runs down alongside a crawl space. I can use the laser cutter to make a hole, transfer through and use the lift shafts to get down to the conference rooms. No need to actually go in the room itself, the comms feed through another maintenance run, I can just plant the bug there."

"I love it when you get all... plan-y."

"Why do you think I do it?"

"Because it might get your fist and Lex's face a little closer to meeting?"

"Well... yes. But mostly because you love it."

Kara laughed and turned her head to give Kate a quick kiss on the cheek. Ever since she'd found out the reaction that simple little gesture caused it had become one of her favourite things to do to her girlfriend, at least with all their clothes on. Sure enough the blush and little grin spread across Kate's face and Kara felt the other woman squeeze her shoulders. Just as she was wondering if they had time for anything more the intercom buzzed.

"Apparently Luke works quickly these days." Kara commented with a slightly disappointed tone.

"Yeah... might have to mark him down for that." Kate joked, heading for the comm.

"You found something?" Kate asked, trying to look professional as Kara took her time to walk the long way round behind the camera, blatantly eyeing Kate's striking figure from head to foot as she did so.

"No. Well, yes, but what I found was nothing." Luke explained, wondering at the slightly embarrassed look on Kate's face but deciding he'd rather not know why it was there.

"You're making less sense than usual." Kate told him with a raised eyebrow.

"I know but this is just downright weird. You said this is a highly secure military system, right?"

"Yeah...."

"Well someone seems to have skipped the secure bit. Oh, sure, it looks well protected but the instant you start running even basic tools against it you can get by everything. Slip right in and see full records."

"Wait, what do you mean full records?" Kara asked, coming in to shot behind Batwoman and remembering at the last second to drag her eyes up, up and away from Kate's backside.

"As with most systems there's various access levels." Luke explained patiently. "Most users can see some basic info like preferred name, address, species and powers but a few super users can see everything. That gets you, oh, looks like medical history, employment history, full addresses going back at least ten years, aliases or... yeah, or actual name if they're using a stand-in. Stuff you really don't want leaked, basically."

"Problem is it's trivially easy to bypass all that 'security' and just see everything." Luke finished. "Honestly it's so simple it's almost like it was designed that way."

"So... if this system was made accessible via, say, an internet search site for people to see who's around them?" Kate asked, growing dread in her voice.

"Then I'd say it'd last, oh, thirty seconds before someone had probed it, cracked it and downloaded every last bit of data stored within its tissue paper walls." Luke replied.

"Any chance it's been written that way by accident?" Kara put in with a note of resignation.

"Almost certainly not. This is deliberately bad work."

"Okay, thanks Luke. Stay on comms in case we need you?" Kate said.

"I'll be here." Luke promised as he shut down the connection.

"So now what?" Kate asked half-wondering if Supergirl might just fly back home and tear Lex into several squishy pieces just for the hell of it.

"I'd say we've got two problems." Kare replied thoughtfully. "We still need to know what's being discussed in that meeting tomorrow but we also can't let the system go live."

"And if they decide to just flick the switch we may not get enough warning to stop it." Kate put in.

"So we've got to do both jobs tonight." Kara said with certainty. "If you can get that bug placed I'll head to the DEO and deal with the database."

"Wait a minute, you can't just destroy it, there's also a ton of info on know criminals in there." Kate said with a frown but Kara waved a hand in a 'I've got this' gesture.

"I'll do what Brainy did last year. Delete the DEO system and backups but keep a copy. They want it back, they make sure it doesn't endanger anyone."  
"I was really hoping you weren't going to say that." Kate groaned. "Okay, fine, I know better than to argue when you're in this mood. But just to cover our collective butts I'll run a data dump on Lex's personal archive while I'm in the tower. Hopefully they'll be something in there we can use to negotiate quietly rather than him sic'ing the entire DEO on us to get the damn thing back. At the very least we might be able to prove they deliberately botched the job on the database."

"Good plan."

"Are you going to tell Alex about this little adventure?"

"No. The DEO have gotten in the habit of using those truth squids and she'll be a prime suspect. If she doesn't know anything she'll pass their tests and be safe. Plus when you get right down to it she's a federal employee, they could put her in prison in a heartbeat if she's caught up in something like this."

"That's not your best motivational speech." Kate said sarcastically while privately considering that getting Alex Danvers in a jail cell might be almost as hard as caging the other Danvers sister.

"Noted." Kara replied with a small smile. "For what it's worth anyone trying to drag you to jail will have to get by me first."

"That's both reassuring and deeply worrying." Kate told her. "Especially as your plan seems to rely on Lex Luthor being rational when threatened with public exposure. But it doesn't look like we've got much choice so let's get going."

"It'll be alright." Kara said as they turned for the cave's exit, Kate snagging the cowl as she did so. "I mean, this is Lex, what's he going to do? Come up with a ridiculously elaborate plan to pit us against each other with an unstoppable abomination against nature waiting in the wings if we don't play ball??"

"That... seems oddly specific."  
"Kal let me flip through his Superman memorabilia collection. You would not believe some of the rubbish they came up with back in the day.”

"Fair enough. Though, just for the record, you know I'd totally whip your ass, right?"

"Riiiiight. With one little piece of Kryptonite?"

"Your overconfidence is your weakness."

"Feels like that should be my line."

"Keep right on thinking that."

"Ah-ha, you know I can just drop a mountain on you, right?"

Their voices faded away as they walked down the stone tunnel that led to a concealed exit a comfortable distance from Wayne Tower. A couple of minutes later the elevator rattled into place and Luke got out cautiously. While the sensor net might have told him the place was empty and there was no danger of intruding on any shared private time he wasn't entirely sure he trusted that. Granted, a small mostly testosterone based part of his mind admitted, he wouldn't exactly object to accidentally catching Supergirl and Batwoman doing something more suited to a HBO show but the rest of him decided it really wasn't worth the pummelling that would likely follow. With a sigh he eased down into the chair and made sure he had a good target lock on the batsuit.


	3. Chapter 3

Normally the flight from Gotham to National City took around 4 hours but that assumed you were flying commercial. One of the side effects of Crisis had been an unexpected upgrade to the bat-themed toys at Kate's disposal, apparently Earth Prime Bruce had decided he needed better transport options than just a fancy car. He'd even had the foresight to make everything user-friendly so Kate had found it almost absurdly easy to get used to having the Batwing at her disposal. Cruising without fuss at around Mach 3 it was a surprisingly relaxing flight, though she suspected Bruce had never had Clark flying alongside. Backwards. While looking at an imaginary watch and yawning. Still, it was an improvement over Kara pretending to be a hood ornament as she had done the first time they'd flown together. Granted the view had been somewhat... impressive but traveling three times the speed of sound proved to be one of those rare instances when Kate preferred an empty sky in front of her.

Just as Kate was debating seeing if the plane had any more speed to give the autopilot pinged and it started to slow and sink, the bright lights of National City coming in to view as they slipped below the sound barrier for a vaguely stealthy approach. In truth that had proven to be one of the harder parts to work out over the last few months as Lex had such a huge presence in the city. The DEO dessert base would have been ideal as Kara could have just carried her the rest of the way but anything DEO-related would likely trip all sorts of flags in LuthorCorp these days. Similarly the city itself was far too well monitored for the Batwing to be overlooked. 

They'd ended up, after some considerable searching even at super speed, deciding to stay off the grid and Kara had carved a hanger from a suitable hill ten miles outside the city limits. Landing was awkward, though possible, but most of the time they would be flying together anyway so Kate just killed the power midair and let Kara take the Batwing in by hand. Once down the hidden mechanisms dropped a slab of concrete into place over the entrance, its outside carefully designed to look like the hill itself. After making sure that everything had been shut down properly and the Batwing was ready to fly as soon as she needed it Kate let Kara scoop her up and they flew low, following a river into the city itself before slicing up into the rooftops of downtown.

Picking a roof at random Kara eased herself and her passenger down to a soft landing. From where they stood they could just about make out both the Luthorcorp tower and the DEO headquarters. 

"So... you're sure you want to do this?" Kate asked.

"Actually, yes." Kara replied with conviction. "There's too much at stake not to. If Lex wants to come at us then let him."

Kate shook her head but couldn't quite hide the smile. "You know there are days I wish you weren't *quite* so hopeful about the future."

"It would probably make things easier." Kara agreed with a chuckle. "Ready to go?"

"Almost, just one more thing I need to do." Kate said and pulled Kara into a brief but passionate kiss. "See you soon."

"Count on it." Kara replied with a slightly dazed smile. "Love you."

"Love you too." Kate said with a wink as she grappled away into the night.

Kara watched her go until she slipped around the edge of a skyscraper. Setting her shoulders the girl of steel eyed the DEO building, wondering for a second how to approach this particular problem. Her instinct was to try and sneak in but she knew that the moment she accessed the system her digital fingerprints would be all over it. Besides if they wanted to 'prove' anything later on there had to be hundreds of hours of her flying into the building that'd make faking a video trivial. 

She gave the building a quick but thorough scan with her x-ray vision, looking for Alex, Brainy or J'onn. The last thing she wanted was to run into anyone who knew her personally and give Lex an excuse to go after them. Satisfied she was in the clear, at least on that front, she took a breath and lifted into the air, circling around to try to make it a little harder for someone to backtrack her path. Rushing down she landed in the centre of the balcony that had become her unofficial landing pad and casually walked in what was, to her, the front door.

Nodding at everyone she past, trying to give the same cheery smile she normally would, she made her way through the command centre and down a couple of flights of stairs to the secure data facility. Just for a second she paused with her thumb over the reader, wondering if this was the right thing to do. But the answer to that was burned into her mind, clear as crystal. 32,671. That was the number of known aliens on the planet as of that morning, the number of aliens that the DEO had details of and all of them, every last one, would be at risk if she let Lex have his way. Worse, they'd become weapons in a war that most people, human and alien alike, might not even realise had started until it was too late. 

She tapped the pad, releasing the door and as she stepped inside a raft of sensors matched her physical features to those on file for Supergirl. Finally she had to provide a pass phrase to activate the terminal itself and couldn't help a tiny smile as she said aloud "Paragon of Hope." She'd been so tempted to use Courage, Kate's role in the grand multiversal reboot, but was now glad she'd decided against it. One less thing to tie her to Batwoman, one more step someone would have to take to prove what was going on. 

Working quickly she grabbed a copy of the database on a memory stick then started typing as fast as she could. Deleting the file outright would likely immediately trigger an alert, assuming of course she had the right permissions to do so in the first place so they'd worked out an alternative. Her fingers flew as she paged through every last record and replaced the details with gibberish. As she worked the memory stick automatically started its own hack to deliver one of Bruce's special payloads that Luke had configured to not only seek and destroy any backups of the data but lie in wait in case they tried to restore from a remote backup or repair the damage Kara was currently doing to the main file.

Both jobs finished within seconds of each other and Kara palmed the drive, slipping it in to the hidden shoulder pocket of her suit. With a last glance around she left the room and made her way back to the command centre, trying very hard not to make it obvious that she was committing everything to memory as this might well be the last time she was ever welcome in the building. She had a sudden urge to pull aside one of the field commanders and give her a heads-up but... but she couldn't. On this Earth the story she'd tell would seem preposterous to most and all she'd achieve would be getting found out a lot sooner than might otherwise happen. With a small sigh she stepped outside and shot into the air praying to Rao that Alex and Brainy wouldn't be targeted for what she'd done.


	4. Chapter 4

Across town Kate was having a more complicated evening. She'd made it down to the conference level as planned but found herself penned in within the elevator shaft thanks to unexpected roving patrols of rent-a-goons. Briefly she found herself wishing for Supergirl's x-ray vision then chided herself. She had everything she needed, she just needed to be smart about this. 

Making sure she hadn't accidentally taken a perch in an echo chamber she tapped on her comms and whispered as quietly as she possibly could. "Luke, you there?"

"Of course and judging by the volume I take it you're in trouble?"

"Trying to avoid getting in to it actually." She replied with a wry smile. Given why she normally ended up calling she couldn't blame him jumping to that conclusion. “There’s three squads patrolling this floor and I need to do this quietly.”

“Okay, so… you want me to try and kill the lights?”

“Great idea but no. This is Luthorcorp, they’re bound to have some serious cyber security around the control systems for the building. But the building plans should still be on the system, can you figure out the easiest place I can cut the power from here?”

“Sure, give me a minute…” There was the a busy silence and gentle rustle of keyboards from the other end of the line and Kate tried to get a little more comfortable on the steel girder she was currently crouched on. “Okay, it looks like…. Yeah, there should be a distribution point about fifty feet down the corridor on your right when you come out of the elevator shaft. You can either lob a disruptor in there or use the laser cutter if you want a more permanent break. Dealer’s choice but either way there’s likely to be some sort of alarm set up if power mysteriously goes out.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m just going to cut it. Least that way they can’t get the lights back on.” Kate said grimly, easing her neck from side to side as she prepared for the inevitable battle. “Wait, is it the same circuit as the data lines, we still need to grab what we can from the servers and get a tap on that boardroom.”

“Uh…no, no you’re good. In fact if you can get the bug in place I can probably remote download everything to the Batwing ready for you.”

“That helps. Thanks.” Kate said with a small smile that she hoped came through in her voice. 

‘Go get ‘em Batwoman.” Luke replied with a confidence he certainly wouldn’t have had just a few months ago. 

The doors to the shaft had a manual release on her side to aid in evacuations so she hung on the wall, eyes trained on the gap between door and floor, her ears straining to track the nearest group. She saw their shadow flicker as they walked by, the soft tread of boots moving away down the corridor. Five seconds… ten…. twelve and she heard the noise change as they rounded the corner. Ninety seconds until the next group came by. Plenty of time.

She yanked the release and prised the doors apart, slipping out into the corridor without a sound save the slight squeak of metal on metal as she rammed a nondescript metal wedge in to stop the doors closing again. She turned and ran down the hall, her cape flowing out behind her, eyes scanning the door plates until she came to the maintenance room. A quick burst from her laser cutter dealt with the lock and she stepped inside, locating the electric panel and slicing through the inbound power feeds less than thirty seconds after she’d started moving.

Instantly the entire floor plunged into darkness and Kate grinned as the cowl automatically shifted to night vision mode, the eye pieces turning a gently illuminated white as they pulled in every last detail from the environment to let her see almost as well as she could in the noon day sun. No time to waste, she thought, rushing back out into the corridor and following the route she had memorised into the core of the building. From up ahead she made out several glowing beams… torches, she realised, probably strapped to the barrels of the goons full auto rifles. Her opinion of them dropped a little as while they could at least see what was ahead of them it made it trivial for anyone who didn’t want to meet them head on to dodge around even if they couldn’t see in the dark.

She dashed the last few yards and slipped inside the conference room, making her way soundlessly to the small access panel on the back wall. Popping the cover she flipped a small cylinder from her utility belt that hinged apart to reveal a thin channel running down the middle. She quickly found the right data wire and wrapped the cylinder around it, shutting it tightly and hearing the quiet hum as the built in mechanisms went to work stripping off the outer cable sheath and patching in to the data network. Gently she eased the cover back into place, taking the time to make sure it was properly seated.

“Okay, getting data feed now.” Luke reported as the screens in front of him came alive. “Running search programs for anything related to alien registry or financial records but we’ll try and scoop everything we can before the system locks us out.”

Kate was about to reply when a movement caught her eye. Not in the room itself but in the corridor outside as another group of guards was coming by, their torch beams leaking past the edge of the door just enough for the cowl to pick them up. With a predatory grin she made her way back to the entrance, positioning herself to one side just in they decided to check the room. She needn’t have worried though, clearly independent thinking wasn’t high on the list of job qualifications as they kept on moving in their patrol pattern, all four of them moving past the conference room without giving it a second look.

As soon as they were clear she eased into the corridor and stalked after them. They weren’t even checking their six she thought with disgust and that made it almost trivially easy to pick off the first two before their friends noticed anything was amiss. Realising they were suddenly missing half their force they both swung around, guns coming up to scan the corridor but… nothing. Just empty space. The one who had been in the lead and after the about face was now bringing up the rear, thought he heard something and glanced to his right only to see an armoured fist heading for his face.

The muffled thud of his body hitting the carpet caused the last of the group to spin around but, unfortunately for him, he also looked down to try and find the source of the sound. That meant the barrel of his gun was pointing at the floor when Batwoman simply walked out of the shadows, snatched it from his hand, flicked it around and used the stock as a bat to knock him out. 

Kate debated for a second moving the sleeping idiots out of the corridor but decided it wasn’t worth the time. Short of killing them there was no way to stop them remembering where they’d been when the attack happened so her best bet now was to take out everyone on the level, throw some confusion in as to where she’d hit first and hopefully mask her reason for visiting in the first place.

The second group were unlucky enough to be in the reception area for the conference facility when Kate caught up with them. An impressive space it took up three floors of the skyscraper, its west wall the exterior windows for the tower to give anyone coming here a commanding view of National City as they waited to go about their business. For Batwoman it was the perfect hunting ground as she stalked the group from the catwalks above, picking them off whenever one got a little too far from the others and gave her a window of opportunity. The last man standing tuned around to see all three of his friends hanging upside down behind him, grapple cables wrapped around their ankles. Frantically he checked the nearest one, found a pulse but it was clear that he wasn’t waking up any time soon. The second was the same and he’d just about given up hope of any backup by the time he reached the third. Which was a shame as it wasn’t until he turned the hanging body around that he noticed the long red hair and slim figure that was very definitely not that of Shotgun Jack.

The dull crack of head on cowl was swallowed up by the carpet and Kate dropped lightly to the floor, checking to make sure she hadn’t missed anyone. Two groups down, she thought, one to go. 

“How’re we doing?” She whispered.

“Pretty good, not sure how much of it will be useful but we’re getting a *lot* of data from the bug.” Luke said, slightly distracted as he multi-tasked. “Counter measures are trying to kick us out but we’re staying ahead for now. Figure another five minutes before things start getting dicey.”

“Thanks, let me know when we’re done.” Kate said heading back into the warren of passageways wondering where she was likely to find the remaining four goons. 

“Oh of course…” She muttered to herself a minute later peering carefully around a corner. The last group had found the open elevator doors and had decided to guard the obvious exit route. She supposed it had been too much to hope for that she’d get lucky with all three but still… 

“Just picked up a transmission from inside the tower.” Luke whispered in her ear. “Not sure what it was but I’d guess there’s backup coming.”

“Terrific.”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s time to go…” Luke said trying and failing to hide his nervousness.

“Think you’re right on that. Okay, this is going to be a bit messy…” Kate muttered, fishing in her belt for a small metal disk. Stepping around the corner she skimmed it down the corridor so it landed just behind the group. As it touched down a small speaker in the dish let out a metalling *ping* sound, as if a can had been dropped down a twisty air vent. Instinctively the guards turned to see what it was, guns trained on the noise… only for the disk to explode in a brilliant pulse of burning white light.

The cowl protected Kate’s eyes as the flash bang went off and she was running full tilt down the corridor to the suddenly half-blind group in front of her. Diving in to the middle she threw punches left and right, downing one immediately and leaving a second staggered. The third she kicked in the gut, driving the air out of him and ramming him back into the corridor wall before a follow-up head kick put him down. The fourth was still trying to blink away the afar-images but could clearly see *something* as he tried to bring his gun up. She rolled forward, an armoured boot lashing out to kick the gun up out of hand and send it tumbling back down the corridor. She sighed as she saw him reach for a knife and stepped forward, bringing her fist down perfectly to send him to la la land. 

She heard a curse from behind her and spun around to see the sole remaining thug stumble back to his feet. His eyes locked on the gun lying a few feet in front of him and he made a clumsy dive for the weapon. Sighing Kate waited until he was in the air then fired her grapple, the line snagging him as it shot by into the empty elevator shaft, dragging him in and leaving him hanging over a very, very long drop by a single steel strand. As she fired a second line up the shaft and sped away she was accompanied by a scream of terror from the dangling man that brought a satisfied smile to her lips.

“Aaaand that’s it.” Luke announced as she made it back to the rooftop. “The bug’s self-destructed, no evidence left behind to link this to Batwoman and I really doubt any of them got a good look at you."

“Good work.” Batwoman replied. “Anything interesting?”

“Not sure yet but there sure seemed to be a LOT of data coming in. Got to be something there if Lex is as dirty as you say.”

“Can the ‘wing handle it all?”

“Just about yeah. It’ll be ready for you when you get there.” Luke promised.

“Great, thanks.” Kate bit off the temptation to say his name, always aware that someone might be listening in. “See you when I’m back in town.”

“Enjoy crashing on the sofa.” Luke said with a chuckle, knowing full well that there was precisely zero chance of that happening if his boss and, yes, friend was staying the night with Kara Danvers. Or, well, any pretty woman come to that but Kara was a dead cert.

Kate smiled as she threw herself off the roof, her cape catching the updraft and letting her, just for a moment, have a taste of what Kara must feel every time she left the ground. Carefully, trying her best to keep high and far away from any bright lights she made her way to their agreed meeting place above one of National City’s huge jumbotron screens. While she was fairly sure that no-one in this town would freak out at an unexpected shadow passing overhead she’d rather keep Batwoman’s presence anywhere outside of Gotham a secret. Might start giving the criminal types ideas while she was away…


	5. Chapter 5

Gliding to a neat landing she saw Supergirl sitting on an air conditioner overlooking the square far below. It was a good vantage point, Kate thought, letting anyone using it keep an eye on what was happening while still being fairly well hidden.

“How’d it go?” She asked, settling down beside the blonde.

“Good. Well… as good as grand theft ever can be I suppose.” Kara said with a smile. “Any trouble at Luthor Central?”

“Not really. Dozen or so goons but not very good ones.” Kate replied with a shrug. “Luke’s sending the data to the Batwing for us to have a look at. The bug immolated itself as planned and I don’t think there’s any obvious evidence left behind that they had a bat in their belfry.”

“Probably for the best.” Kara agreed. “Kate… thank you for helping on this. I mean it’s not exactly hero work after all and…”

The rest of the speech that had clearly been building in Kara’s mind for most of the evening was silenced as Batwoman leaned over and pulled her into a long, tender kiss. Supergirl moaned quietly, matching the caped crusader move for move until a lack of oxygen necessitated a brief pause in the action.

“You’re welcome.” Batwoman said with a mischievous glint in her eye. “Now I don’t know about you but after a night of breaking and entering, plus flying across half the country and a load of research homework, I could really do with finding some way to relax before the sun comes up…”

Supergirl smiled and it was an oddly evil look in the electric glow from the screen below them. “Oh I can think of a few suggestions if you’d like, it is my town after all…”

Kate’s reply was drowned out by the urgent musical score from the square and they both looked down in time to see a serious-faced news anchor appear with “Breaking News!” on the text ticker below him.

“We interrupt this programming for an address from the president.” The picture instantly jumped to the oval office and a president who didn’t look at all happy at the message she had to give.

“My fellow Americans… tonight I find myself having to defend this country against a threat that none of us thought we’d ever face. An hour ago the records that make up the alien registry maintained and protected by the Department of Extra-Normal Operations were stolen, their backups destroyed. These records contain all known information on all known alien criminals including murderers, thieves and terrorists. Without them we are working blind with no way to track these threats to our security.”

She paused, drawing a deep breath past, clearly fighting for control. “These records were stolen not by an external threat or a group looking to escape our attention but by those we trusted, respected and welcomed into our lives. The DEO, for all of its heroic actions protecting this planet, was betrayed by one of its own. With this in mind, and at the recommendation of the previous incumbent, I am asking the chief executive officer of the DEO, Lex Luthor, to answer his country’s call in its hour of need and assume the position of Secretary of Defence.”

The camera panned slightly to the left and Lex stepped into frame, his face set and solemn. “I wish I had better news for you Madam President, for all of us, but the American people deserve the truth. Tonight two of our biggest heroes turned on this country, on this planet… on the entire human race.” 

The screen flickered and security footage played of Supergirl in the DEO secure facility as she finished overwriting the existing records and secured the copy. Then, as Kara and Kate watched in shock, Alex raced into the room with her alien sidearm raised. There was no audio but they could see her shouting a command only to fall out of shot as something hit her on the head. A moment later Batwoman walked into frame, slipping the Batarang back into her utility belt, saying something to Supergirl and then both of them left the camera’s view.

The screen cut back to Lex, now in full close-up, the president seemingly no longer relevant. “Supergirl, Batwoman, if you’re hearing this, please… surrender to the authorities, Return what you’ve stolen and face justice for your actions. You will be treated with all the protections and due process our legal system provides. Until then…” Lex drew in a breath, seemingly on the verge of tears from what he had to say.

“Until then we have no choice but to declare both of you Public Enemies of the United States.”


End file.
